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When Apple and IBM recently announced that they joined forces to align mobile, Big Data, and analytics into a central access point for iPad and iPhone users, it made perfect sense.

With IBM’s surging influence in the analytics and Big Data market space, Apple products serve as the ideal vessels to drive information across different mobile landscapes. Big Blue will be able to tap into a whole new base of users across the globe who have been waiting for the day they can use their iPads and iPhones to access decision-making support capabilities wherever they go.

Specifically, Apple is feeding more analytics and Big Data consumption for a base of mobile users that are soon to become the millennial standard. VMware refers to this group as “anytime, anywhere workers”. These individuals travel more and check their devices in airport terminals and during the cab rides back-and-forth. According to Vodafone, 82% of employees use at least one travel app. They are constantly looking to stay engaged with the information they need to stay productive.

To that end, according to CIO Insight, one of the biggest footholds IBM has gained is with senior decision-makers. These decision-makers—such as CIOs—make up a significant portion of the world-wide mobile user base and are responsible for making purchasing decisions. As a result, there is potential to drive additional iPad and iPhone purchases in enterprise settings.

In a conversation with CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated, “I think that the people that will really benefit from this are the enterprise customers who can be more productive running their businesses.”

From an industry-based data consumption standpoint, one can see how on-the-go consumers will benefit from unfettered analytics access. For instance, healthcare professionals can use iPads to dissect patient data on different hospital floors, or retailers can use their iPhones to track in-store customer activities.

There will be a rollout of natively built apps for iOS that target other industries such as banking, transportation, and telecommunications. These apps are specifically designed and configured to take advantage of the functionality of Apple devices.

How do you see this move advancing analytics through Apple devices? Let us know your thoughts!  

The modern CFO wields significant power and influence around a wide variety of business functions. Whether those functions are regulatory, strategic planning, governance, or beyond, CFOs are under pressure to provide accurate, and timely reporting with the most relevant data from all business departments. Given the ever-increasing risk and liability of manual processes, CFOs must ask themselves, “How can I automate and optimize finance processes while meeting all of my fiduciary responsibilities?”

Throughout all of the back-and-forth that report distribution presents, organizations are wasting precious time, and reports are being delayed. The longer these reports are on the shelf, the less they remain relevant and timely for the decision-making process. What if the finance department has an assembly area where stakeholders could automate and keep track of multiple contributions in multiple formats, including narrative content and commentary?

The introduction of external report management solutions have helped today’s CFOs stem the tide to some degree. Automation has sped up the delivery time on the external end. But the internal end has remained muddied with error-prone, manual process issues. And those pesky security concerns remain deeply-rooted throughout all departmental reporting. New tools allow finance organizations to reduce cost, improve efficiency, enhance security, and reduce risk while ensuring more transparency and collaboration.

In rolling out the Cognos Disclosure Management platform, IBM has significantly closed the gaps in internal and external reporting. This solution is geared to break down silos, allow companies to meet ever-evolving regulatory and statutory mandates, and unify business processes across the enterprise. Now the reports that are seen represent a “single version of the truth” for business leaders and managers. From a collaboration, integration, and security standpoint, this automated solution can tie up all of the loose ends.

What else can Cognos Disclosure Management do for your business?

TM1 Brings Light to Emergent BioSolutions’ Financial Planning and Forecasting

For a lot of finance departments, the thought of sitting down to prepare the annual budget can send shivers down spines. After all, budgeting and planning season can be a messy endeavor, full of tabbed Excel spreadsheets, back-and-forth budget approval requests, and a MASTER budget sheet that needs constant corrections before it is finalized.  All of these tasks are issued manually through email requests and via the physical distribution of documents and reports. And to make matters worse, there has to be swift coordination between all business units, as well as the executive management teams.

What if budgeting didn’t have to be so complicated or error-prone? Emergent BioSolutions—a global specialty pharmaceutical company—found out the night-and-day difference that an automated, integrated budgeting and forecasting solution can make. It represents a complete cultural change for Emergent. This exciting transition meant going from static, once-a-year budgeting and forecasting, to a dynamic, rolling forecast.

According to Felipe Alcorta, Director of Financial Systems & Analysis, “We are constantly on a rolling forecast. 9 months into the year, we’re already 3 quarters of the way to establishing a budget before the planning period actually begins.”

Even though your smartphone or tablet makes you incredibly productive and keeps you connected to the world, do you still find yourself searching for newer or better apps that will make that experience even better and more productive?  Have you ever come across an app that fundamentally changes the way you do things, but which you never realized you needed?   When we see the benefits of technology in our lives, we naturally want to keep seeking out new ways of enhancing and extending those benefits to other parts of our life.

Did you ever lose your train of thought because you couldn’t stop thinking about an inevitable software implementation project? Don’t sweat it. The thought of a large-scale implementation puts even the most seasoned IT people on the edge of their seats. The immediate questions and comments that get tossed back and forth between both sides (client and vendor) sound something like this: